The First Mother's Days

Mother’s Day has a long history in the world, but in the history of the United States, a writer named Julia Ward Howe is responsible for bringing Mother’s Day here. Julia Ward Howe wrote books of poetry, travel, autobiographies and plays. She contributed to women’s issues in the form of articles, but what made her truly famous were the words she wrote for the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” during the Civil War. As an abolitionist the Civil War was an important part of her and her husband’s lives.


Married to a man who believed that it was his duty to be in control of everything, Julia was dissatisfied with her married life. She was not the type to be happy with taking care of her home and family without being able to contribute to the literary world in a profound way. After her separation she became highly active in the women’s liberation movement.

Because of the atrocities of the Civil War that she lived through, Julia was looking forward to a peaceful world and proposed that mothers be the ones to make this idea a reality. In her Mother’s Day Proclamation of 1870, she advised the mother’s of the world to reject the idea of sending their sons to war to kill other mothers’ sons and resolve differences with others peacefully without weapons. Her idea of Mother’s Day was to be an international one, including mothers of all persuasions all over the world.

The first day set for Julia’s mother’s celebration was June 2, 1873. As long as Julia was in charge of the celebrations, they continued on. At the point where she stopped paying for them, the celebrations also stopped. Only Julia’s hometown, Boston, continued to honor the holiday after she was unable to contribute to the monetary needs of other celebrations.

How do you plan to honor your mother this Mother’s Day? One great way would be to choose a beautiful gift from Dyani’s Creations

Let us know what you think.  Visit us at dyaniecholee at live.com.